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The 2014 campaign is underway for many candidates, but some California Republicans are looking for some light in the tunnel: 2018.

The leading candidates running for a challenge to incumbent Governor Brown in 2014 are former Lt. Governor Abel Maldonado and Assemblyman Tim Donnelly (R-Hesperia).

However, there are sources this writer has obtained that a group of donors are willing to hedge their bets behind Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael Antonovich as a credible and viable candidate for Governor in 2018.

Supervisor Antonovich has a long resume of public service that started in 1969 with his election to the Los Angeles Community College Board of Trustees. Antonovich was then elected to the State Assembly in 1972 by serving three terms.

In 1978, Antonovich was unsuccessful in seeking the Republican Nomination for Lt. Governor, which he lost to Mike Curb.

In 1980, Antonovich ran and successfully defeated incumbent Baxter Ward for a seat on the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors and has been re-elected eight times and is term limited in 2016.

Though, in 2018 Antnovich would reach the age of 79 and my sources has indicated that the Supervisor is not interested to be a candidate for Governor of California.

California has been receptive by electing elder leaders to keep an eye on the youngsters running the bureaucracy and especially in the legislature.

As for the donors to skip the 2014 election cycle by looking towards 2018 is very telling for Maldonado and Donnelly that both must prove to skeptics and donors that 2014 is the year for Republicans in California.

Back in September at the Tribal Alliance of Sovereign Indian Nation convention at the Sheraton Grand in Sacramento, the governor announced he was creating a position to serve as a direct link between the Governor and the over 100 Indian Tribes in California. Today the Governor announced that Cynthia Gomez will serve as the Tribal Advisor and also as executive Secretary for the Native American Heritage Commission.

The position was created by Executive Order B-10-11 to bolster communication between the Brown Administration and Tribal Governments. Gomez will advise Brown on matters relating to legislation, policy and regulation. The position does not require Senate confirmation and the total compensation for the Democrat Gomez will be $140,000 a year.

Gomez is a graduate of the Lorenzo Patino Law School in Sacramento and has most recently been working as chief justice of the Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians Tribal Court since 2010.

Whether this is an efficient use of $140,000 in tax dollars remains to be seen. The description of Gomez’s job seems overly broad in its “legislation, policy and regulation” directive. Hopefully Gomez genuinely finds a way assist California’s most underserved tribes and is not a $140,000 mouthpiece with services available to highest bidder for the state’s most influential tribes and their business partners.